Louisville Squeaks By Villanova

Posted: Sat 3:25 PM, Jan 10, 2009

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Less than a month into the conference seasonthe Big East is living up to its current status and its history. In another physical-as-always Big East game between two of itsrecord nine teams ranked in the Top 25, Louisville found a way tosurvive for a 61-60 victory over Villanova on Saturday. Terrence Williams scored on a drive with 7.4 seconds left togive the 23rd-ranked Cardinals the lead, then the 18th-rankedWildcats missed two shots down low in the final seconds. The ending wasn't pretty, neither was either team's offense allgame, but it's the kind of physical matchup the Big East hasproduced often over the years. "A typical Big East game," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said."It would have been a shame for us to lose because we've worked sohard the last two weeks." Earl Clark had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Louisville (11-3,2-0), which won its third straight after losing two of three. TheCardinals' league wins were both on the road and now they get toreturn home for two games - No. 13 Notre Dame on Monday and No. 1Pittsburgh on Jan. 17. "I've looked forward to this year more than any other," Pitinosaid. "You'll never see 12, 13 teams as tough as this. It'sspecial, I'll tell you that. I'm getting the hell out of here afterthis year, I'm telling you that." Villanova coach Jay Wright said he has talked to his team oftenabout the conference. "I've told the kids 'You're going to be part of history playingin this league. You'll talk about this the rest of your life,"' hesaid. Dante Cunningham had 21 points for the Wildcats (13-3, 1-2), whoonly led twice in the game, the last time at 60-59 on a free throwby Cunningham with 27 seconds left. The Cardinals ran down the clock until Williams, who had 10points and 14 rebounds, scored on a drive among three Villanovaplayers. Antonio Pena of Villanova was fouled with 4.9 seconds left andhe missed both free throws as the Wildcats went 6-for-14 from theline over the final 8½ minutes. The second miss went out of bounds off Clark so Villanova gotthe ball under the basket with 4 seconds left. Reggie Redding threwa lob pass into Cunningham, who missed from in close, then grabbedthe rebound but he missed from just off to the side as the buzzersounded. "Redding made a great pass," Cunningham said. "Clark got apiece of it and it just rimmed out." Pitino said Clark made a "great play" by going at Cunninghamwithout fouling him. "We've had some bad luck. Today, we had good luck," Pitinosaid. Villanova felt exactly the opposite. "Right now this game kills you," Wright said. "We'll wake uptomorrow, watch the tape and we'll feel good about ourselves. Ifall the games are like this I'll be happy as long as we get ourshare." The poor free throw shooting was out of the ordinary forVillanova, which entered the game leading the Big East at 72.2percent and off having made its last 18 in a row in an overtime winover Seton Hall on Tuesday. Pena, who came in shooting 69.6 percent from the line, made oneof six free throws over the final 4:43, including missing three offour in the last 47 seconds. "Even if you're a good free throw shooting team, you'll haveone of those games," Wright said. "It wasn't meant to be. "They did a great job pressuring us and disturbing our flow." The teams came in ranked in the top five in the conference in3-point shooting. Villanova, fourth at 36.3 percent, finished2-for-8 from behind the arc, while Louisville, which was shooting35.5 coming in, was 3-for-25 with the starting backcourt of EdgarSosa and Jerry Smith combining to go 1-for-11. "They're one of the best in the conference with Syracuse infield goal defense so they can take the 3 away," Wright said."They not only took it away but they prevented us from goinginside to Dante." Louisville held an 11-point lead in each half, going up 47-36with 13:12 to go on a jumper by Clark. Villanova used a 13-3 run to get its first lead of the game,58-57, on a side jumper with Cunningham with 3:11 left. "At one timeout, Clark said, 'Coach, I'm getting killed outthere,"' Pitino said. "I said 'Is this your first year in the BigEast? Welcome to the Big East.' This is what the Big East is allabout. I'm sure we were fouling too." Scottie Reynolds, coming off a 40-point outing against SetonHall, had 11 points for Villanova.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.